The Kingdom of Aequalis
by PhantomSilhoutte
Summary: 3 teenagers are summoned to a different world when they thought they died. What happens? Politics, beast taming, war and most importantly, shenanigans.
1. Chapter 1 , Arrival

A/N: This is our first co-writing an original story by ShadowKaktus and Draozerox so we'll see how it goes. I hope you all enjoy~

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Chapter 1:- Becoming King in Another World?!

Shade's POV

Death is but a flesh wound. I thought it was just a phrase really, and it might still be one. But, here I am alive and well after crashing into a speeding truck, or so I thought I was. Right before the crash, I saw a bright electric blue light flashed, blinding me and my friends. I thought I was done for...

I woke with a start, and immediately checked my body for wounds but found none. No scars, no scratches, not even a single bruise. My dark hoodie had no holes nor did my greyish black pants. My black hair was still slightly messy and my limbs were intact. Bullshit. I thought as I noticed that my two friends were fine and dandy as well. Double bullshit.

"Greetings bringers of change." A man in a large throne-like chair said in one side of a massive room we were in. He looked around 50 years old with a greying beard. The room was also shiny and it seemed to reflect all sorts of light, I could've sworn the room was made to blind people.

"You have any change, N?" I asked one of my friends, he was a tall, muscular 17-year old wearing cargo pants and a plain t-shirt. He also had hiking boots, slightly well-kept black hair and black eyes.

"I don't think so..." He said while checking his pockets for loose change until he pulled out something. "I got a tenner though."

"W-what?" the king, presumably, I mean he's sitting on a throne, asked in confusion.

"Please excuse my friends, they are just being...themselves." A sighed. He was of the same age and was wearing a scarlet jacket with a yellow t-shirt underneath and faded jeans. He had short black hair and blackish-brown eyes. Plus a bag of stuff that never seems to leave his side.

"That is fine. I understand that this is quite an experience and confusing for you all." The king said.

"Nah, I saw this one coming a mile away," I said as I stood up brushing off dust.

"I-I'm sorry?" His advisor, I think, muttered to himself.

"Let me guess, you summoned us because something wrong/bad is going on and you're basically in dire need of help. The problems could range from between kingdom troubles and world genocidal destruction or demon lord problems." A briefly explained.

"You must've done this sort of thing before.." the king nodded slowly.

"You could...technically say that I guess," N said. Admittedly, we haven't been into these kinds of situations but we HAVE read enough manga, books and so on to know where this was going.

"Nonetheless, let us speak business, King...?" An arched an eyebrow.

"Atlas." The king answered

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King Atlas and his guards led us into another large, overly extravagant, and annoyingly bright room. It had everything you'd expect a king would have, tons of gems or treasures, big obnoxious statues, golden toilet seats, you name it. He sat at a large round table at the centre of the room. The table was already occupied of who I assumed was the queen, the princess, the general, and several others.

"So THESE are the saviours you spoke of? They do not look like they would last longer." The princess said, bitterness clear in her voice.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with your daughter, sire. These are but children, young adults at most. What kind of miracles can mere teenagers conjure?" A large burly man in full golden armour -who I assumed was the general- said.

This is going to be fun. I thought, suppressing a smile.

Sil's (A) POV

"Your concerns are quite valid, miss Princess and sir. However, we believe that with the experience from our world, such knowledge would most likely benefit your kingdom." I voiced our collective views.

The princess pouted at being called 'miss' but remained silent. The man, on the other hand, was far from pleased. The king seemed to ponder my words for a while and resolved to explain the current fate of their kingdom.

Simply put, the kingdom was on the brink of financial and political collapse, with corrupted nobles gaining far too much power than what they're worth. That combined with famine and constant uproars certainly drove the point home. I could only listen and nod, taking in the situation at hand. Right before I was about to say something, Shade stood up abruptly.

"I know where this is going, so I'm off to explore the castle. And no, I'm not going to leave, double no, I don't want guards watching me, triple no, I'll be fine. Good luck Sil, Neo." He said as he promptly left the room. Ahh... Sil, my alias, how I've been longing to use the name.

"Ah, that reminds me, we haven't properly introduced ourselves. Well as you just now know, my name is Sil. My buddy here is Neo and the one who just left was Shade. Don't worry about him, he wouldn't hurt a fly." I said before anyone could protest him leaving. Neo and I immediately changed the topic to focus on solving their financial problems first.

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Embezzlement, money laundering, you name it, their finances have it. We spent the last three hours wracking our brains finding suitable solutions for each problem. It was a minor victory. The king, as we speak, was ordering the arrest of those involved, hopefully, that went well.

The princess, however, was pacing back and forth the room, worrying that Shade might try to leave the castle or maybe the kingdom as her father refused to station any guards around him. As we were going for another problem though, Shade appeared.

"On a completely unrelated note-" He says while perching on an open window, which was quite impressive since we were on the 2nd floor. "-do any of you have a complete, detailed map of the world?" he asked while grinning ear to ear. Everyone (except me and Neo) was stunned. The advisors looked like they wanted to say something, but decided against it.

"I think we-" King Atlas was cut off by his daughter.

"Hang on, is no one going to question the fact that he's perched on the window? We are on the second floor for goddess' sake!" she exclaimed, clearly frustrated by the situation.

"Actually, it's more like 2 and a half, maybe even the 3rd floor. If we included the basement. Plus this room is slightly higher than the actual floor." Neo said poker-faced. I was laughing softly in the background. Of course, you'd do this Shade.

Shade's POV

It's always fun to see others puzzled and confused at what I do. "Well said Neopolitan-"

"Don't call me that." he interrupted.

"-we are technically 2 and a half floors above ground level."

"Father, are you REALLY going to trust these people on the fate of our, YOUR, kingdom?" She asked, obviously annoyed. Pearl, I think I overheard her name was.

Teasing her will be fun. I grinned mischievously.

"If I recall, didn't those two just solved your financial problems and are starting to look into your political needs?" I clapped my hands together. "So really Pearl, I don't see what's the fuss all about," I said as I slowly made my way towards the princess.

"Shade, don't push your luck dude. You're going to become an enemy to the princess." Sil sighed out loud as several guards surrounded me, swords ready, as I was 5 feet away.

"Better heed your friend's advice, else you'll lose that big head of yours. Plus, YOU haven't done anything useful." She narrowed her eyes as if thinking what my head would look like as a trophy.

"No? Maybe because you've been in this stuffy room for 3 hours. Eh, I'm not many fans for humans anyway. Animals are much more loyal companions. By the way, you guys have a NICE collection of raptors, horses and whatnot. And I LOVE the wyvern you have at the back, she was quite affectionate." I said with a smile.

"Impossible, not even King Atlas' royal tamer could get 3 feet near the thing. How could you? A mere teenager, be able to come near it? That is but a lie." the general, Krane I think his name was, said with much anger in his tone.

"Eh, it's your right to choose whether you believe me or not. We'll see later." I said nonchalantly.

"Yeaaahh...that sounds like a Shade thing to do. He has his ways with none human beings." Neo commented.

"Yep, it's the kind of thing he'll most likely do. I won't be surprised if he had at LEAST 3 ways to befriend the wyvern." Sil added.

Sil's POV

3 hours, that's the time it took for Shade to befriend 80% of the animals in the castle grounds, of course. And a wyvern was included, I am not that all surprised really. I need to pull the discussion back to the topic at hand though.

"Can we please get back to the topic at hand? I'd really like to address public relation, both kingdom relations and semi-hostile races." King Atlas asked politely. For a strong man in status, he's quite soft-spoken. I nodded and we continued on.

"Shade won't be able to help with HUMAN relations though, other races are his forte, he...kinda hates humanity with a passion. Or at least is ultimately disappointed in it. Note, we ARE friends since we're nice to each other, he has no qualms with nice and friendly people. So, you guys, at the moment, are good to go." I clarified before the king had a chance to say anything into the matter. King Atlas nodded and seemed to make a decision on the potential titles and jobs for us three. Then, with a loud voice, resolve strong, he says;

"Then it is settled, at the end of the lunar cycle, you, Shade, shall be our interracial ambassador. Neo will be apart of the royal knights, starting from the bottom of course. Although I don't think you'll run into any problems. Even as I sit, I can feel your aura of strength." He then turns to me, "And you, Sil, shall take my place on the throne as King."

"OBJECTION!!-" the declaration was so sudden it caught everyone severely off guard and saw that it was Shade. "I cannot be an ambassador before l am told the full-length detail of who, what, when, where, why, and how. Give me an hour or two." He said as he quickly left the room...again. Seriously Shade?!

"I thought he was objecting on the king thing..." General Krane muttered, dumbfounded.

"Speaking of which... FATHER, this is absolutely absurd! We barely knew any of them. For all we know they might be plotting against us!" the Princess, Pearl, as I recalled, exclaimed.

"Daughter, enough! I'm sorry you two for I have been invading your privacy, your minds to be exact, and was telepathically discussing the matter with my husband." Queen Celia apologised.

"I'll address your...friend, Shade first. To be swift, we do not know what to make of him. His mind is of 2 sides, one openly shown to everyone, while another, you two should at least to be aware of, is quite...discerning. However, I'm not going to go deeper into that." She sighed tiredly, I guess telepathy drains one's energy.

"Hang on, shouldn't that be addressed then?" Princess Pearl questioned.

The queen seemed to be irate for the first time since we met her, (however short that time has been) and gave the worlds heaviest sight. I understood the feeling, Shade and Neo could get on my nerves from time to time no matter how much I care about them.

"Then I'll be brief. His chaos is just by nature, not because he actively wishes for destruction. The side we do not see is questionably darker, but I can see he has full control of his 'other' side." She said after calming herself.

"Neo, a strong soul with a grand moral compass, compassion strong, resonating within you. I see no threat coming from you in the near and far future," she turns to me, my forehead drenched in sweat.

"You, Sil, have a peculiar aura, you have similar traits to Shade and Neo, but it is more controlled. You have the ability to use your advantages to their fullest and rationally plan out the perfect strategy. Thus, I have no qualms on appointing you as temporary, if not permanent, king to the Kingdom of Aequalis." She said with high praise. I felt relieved by that as I was quite nervous.

The silence in the room was pressuring, for all that it wasn't visible. Even Neo, ever the stoic, was slightly uncomfortable.

The king then dismissed all of us, Neo and I, escorted by guards, left to our rooms.

The room was lavish, similar to the meeting room we were just in. Shade would not like this place. I took a few steps to the window, looking out into the night sky. Flashes of our supposed death replaying in my mind. This place, unless for some odd reason what we have been thought is wrong, is not purgatory, but a new chance at life. Well then... let's make it the best one we've got.

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ShadowKaktus: That's all we have, for now, see y'all later. Shade out-

Draozerox: Indeed. This is the first time we've ever done this. So hope you all look forward to our next chapter. Please leave well-thought critiques and comments. We'd like to keep improving our writing and we can only do that with your guy's help. Thank you and goodbye.

XOXO


	2. C2P1 Decisions And Planning (Sil's POV)

ShadowKaktus: Hewwo again everyone. I see y'all back so let's not bother you all and start the readin'

Draozerox: Actually... We need to tell you guys something.

Each chapter will be a different character's pov. So its easier on us to write. Each of us will be writing our own characters, ShadowKaktus will write Shade, I will write Sil and Neo is a joint effort like the rest of the characters. As you will see, our writing styles are very different than one another. So keep that in mind when reading.

Good? Good, carry on then.

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Sil's POV

Light streams into the room, abundant and warm. I've always been quite the poetic person in my thoughts, and the scene I wake up to is simply poetry. It's our second day since our arrival, and I finally see the rest of the kingdom, awake.

The city as I've been told is split up into 8 sections, the main city itself octagonal in shape. From my window, I see the city bustling with activity. Beast people, elves, half-dragons, and even dwarves walk along the streets, humans just as abundant.

My room is facing the more northern part of the northwest quadrant, a large, royal-like building stands tall, little dots moving about. Past it, I see a beautiful small forest. In it, I can spot a small mansion, old but still radiating elegance. I save the memory for later.

After getting ready for the day, I put on a robe that was in the closet, the guards saying the previous day they were for me to use, and was about to leave when I remembered something.

A habit of mine that I've had my entire life, is to bring a backpack filled with things, useful or not, to school. I realized I had brought mine with me and immediately went to check inside it. Pens, books, some clothes, a face mask with a sharp teeth design, my phone, and my favourite black hoodie all were inside.

I immediately tried to call using the phone but no dice, still pocketed it anyway since it still had power and could be useful. In a split second decision, I put in the hoodie over my white robes, hood up, with the face mask to complete the look. The mirror showed that I looked fairly menacing, so I stuck with it. Let the day commence.

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As soon as I stepped out of the room, I hear a shriek.

"AHHHH!," I look to my right, seeing that it was the Princess, Pearl. Personally, I understand her concern against us, completely understandable circumstances and reaction. It did hurt that we didn't have her trust, but c'est la vie.

"Who are you? Where is the person who was in this room?" she exclaimed at the top of her lungs, hand gripping a rapier. I freeze for a second before taking off my mask.

"Forgive me, Miss Princess Pearl, it is just me, Sil," I say, slightly embarrassed.

She looked stunned and put her hand away. Her face still full of distrust, but calmer since she realized who I was. She looked at my choice of clothing oddly but didn't voice her thoughts.

"I have a question for your father and his magic advisors. As I went to sleep, I felt myself having a bit of a surge, I don't know what that was, however. Is that okay with you miss Princess?" I ask her as we started walking towards our destination.

She looked stunned, maybe she thought I would disregard her because of her treatment towards us yesterday. She nods, but once again is silent. I look in her direction, though older than us by a year or so, she is slightly shorter than me, normal, considering I am, although the shortest between the 3 of us, still tall for our people, taller than my family.

Ah, my family, I hope you are doing well after my 'death'. I pray for all of you, the least I can do for raising me kindly. Kind towards me even with my autism and flaws.

"Hey, you okay? You looked distant there for a bit. Sorry if I surprised you earlier," she asks, looking concerned and a bit apologetic. I simply nod.

"Just remembering about my family," I said to her. She looked surprised as if not expecting my reply. Her face then showed that she finally understood that we were children, just like her. Ones that miss their family. I think we are slightly younger than her, she looked to be 19 or so. But we still shared some similarities, lost, worried, but still figuring out the world, step by step.

"What were they like? Wait, how old are you three?" she asks, leaving me stunned this time. I falter slightly but told her everything. By the end of it, I believe we grew closer, her realizing that we were still somewhat children in the eyes of many, and she stopped outright hating us ( Me at least, Shade still annoyed her, but it wasn't outright hate. More like resentment towards the younger cousin you had. Baby steps Sil, baby steps.)

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The meeting between the King, his advisors and us went well enough. We brought up the offer that we would be allowed to hide our identities - myself included - while doing things around the kingdom. I brought up the idea of using an automaton to be a proxy King of sorts for me, and I hid as an advisor.

They agreed with this notion, respecting our wishes and wants. We ran some quick, if not in depth, test to check our magic affinity. During it, we learned that Neo had an affinity to Earth magic, Shade to the Wind magic, and me being neutral to all of them. A jack of all trades if you will. The head sorcerer offered to train me in the use of Puppetry, a form of magic, which, as the name implies, allows the control of objects from a certain distance. This would allow me to do the Proxy King Strategy much easier. No one would suspect that one of us is the King if we were around them all at once.

The advisors were slightly freaked out when they saw me in my ensemble but seemed to afraid to comment. Shade and Neo went their separate ways after said meeting. The King gave me 15 Elodg, their highest form of currency to spend as I wished. I asked what I could buy with such an amount. "An entire row of houses," replied the advisors.

Asking the Princess for directions - and consequently a suitable market to go comfortably-, she brought us to the Western Market, apparently known for its High-Class ( but still affordable ) trinkets and items. She chose to go out in a much simpler dress but didn't bother covering her face.

"Wouldn't you be recognized so easily if you go out like this? I mean your face is so exposed," I asked her as we left the castle. She turns towards me, an unamused look crossing her face, then gestures towards me, up and down my body. Touche'.

The Western market was bustling with activity, people of all races moving about. Though all of them made way for us. For the Princess or for me, I will never know. From what I could tell, the streets were lined with little stalls, bigger shops behind them. Food, clothes, souvenirs, everything you would want or need in one place. Humming to myself, I spot a blacksmith with an abundance of metals, copper and steel catching my eye.

At that moment, a carriage passed by us, rushing past with a gust of wind. That instantly got me thinking.

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The server stutters as he tells me the food they were serving that day. The entire dining hall silent, and has been since I entered ( ensemble and all). It's been 3 hours since we came back from the market, my hands full of some wire of metal and the sorts. A quick question to the advisors revealed that magnets had already existed and immediately I got to work on a dynamo. Results have been successful thus far. After my quick meal, however, the dining hall had silenced once more when the Princess comes barging through the door.

"Sil!," she says at the top of her lungs. Pulling up my mask, I stand and approach her, steps steady to hide my nervousness. "Yes, Princ-," I was about to say when she cut me off. " Just call me Pearl, okay?". Stunned, I nod anyway. " Yes, Pearl? What seems to be the problem?". Our audience was gaping, many believing that calling a royal by name was punishable for treason and disrespect.

She gives a long weary sigh, enough to tell me that it had something to do with Shade. Her stress coming off in waves. "Shade got angry at my mother earlier for reading his mind. The thing is, she wasn't even angry after that," Called it. Though my friend's anger is justified, privacy is the right of all.

"Shade has never liked anyone messing with his things, his mind included. Finding his secrets are worst. Think of it this way Pearl, even if your friend was the one who looked in your mind, even for your own benefit, would you like that breach of privacy? Imagine that, but with a complete stranger," her face immediately drops, but she understood the importance of what I said. She may be older, but our world had worse problems with privacy. To cheer her up, I told her that Shade would most likely live outside the city anyway, with his position. I also asked if the mansion I saw earlier that day was vacant. Her answer was yes, so I have many things to prepare for.


	3. Chap 2 P2 The Noble Market & the idiot

Draozerox: Hey everyone. This is the next part of the chapter. Sorry for splitting this in 2, but 1 chapter is about 2 and a half pages on paper and that's before improving and redoing. So sorry about that. Anyway, when it comes to writing styles, I have some fics that are my inspiration.

The majority come from aloneintherain on ao3, their fics Spider-Man and Avengers fic 'yesterday, I saw a change' and its sister fic 'What Has Been Seen, Cannot Be Undone' by Fernandidilly-yo being the biggest.

The next one is a KHR fic called 'Heavens Garden' by RenegadeWarrior.

If you read these fics, you'll understand that I try to write with a great deal of emotion and have people feel actually alive like they aren't just characters, but living, breathing people. Hence why I take longer to update. I still recommend however that you read these stories, seriously, they're amazing.

Shadowkaktus: While he does that my parts are mostly just me writing. I DO have some references but I don't use them as much as he does.

Anyway, back to you're regularly scheduled story.

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Three days until my coronation. Usually, one would take years to prepare taking over the throne. But the state of things has forced the coronation to be quickened, the fastest in their history.

The duties of King Atlas have been passed on to me, mostly. The exceptions have of course been the imprisonment of the embezzlers and lawbreakers, and the matters of the Royal Family, which is a given.

Efficiency has drastically improved, and the budget has gone up by 130%, and we were congratulated on our efforts, the King reassured on his decision. When I had my breaks, I tried to further my test on making motors and dynamos, why? Well, I managed to procure a steel carriage for personal use.

My idea for the carriage is to power it by steam using the dynamos and motors so that we don't have to rely on horses for movement. This however led to some design complications that worked out in the end.

We ran preliminary tests, all of them going well. Though Shade ( he came back for a bit to watch the testing) kept insisting we needed to practically destroy the darn thing. I get his reasoning, but I don't have any spares to warrant such a test. This was the first prototype after all.

Neo, though now a warrior, is smart, Shade too, always have been and has been checking my work to see any mistakes. What people don't realize is that the three of us, though different, are similar in personality, interests ( to a certain extent ), and intelligence. They will never expect being outsmarted by the ambassador and head knight in terms of science.

The first real test, however, came when Pearl and Neo wanted to go out for lunch, instead of having it within the castle. Neo insisted we went by the new carriage. I tried to disagree, but Neo is persuasive, able to talk his way out of problems when possible.

I lit a magic flame in the boiler chamber to heat up the water to create the steam necessary to power the thing. The downside of the current design is that there is no battery, so everything is directly powered by the dynamos. This means we have to wait before we can finally move, among other problems.

"I thought you weren't gonna actually do the real-life test today," Neo said as he approached. I just smirk in his direction, then replied. " Yet here it is, isn't it?". We just smile at that. I tell Neo to watch the carriage because of the fact that only a few people are meant to know my face, so I leave to wear my robes.

My full ensemble is similar to the one I wore earlier in the week ( refer to Chapter 2 part 1 ), with some differences. The hoodie and the robe had been made into one, dyed completely white, adding silver highlights alongside black arrows and, gold trim for where the zipper would have been, all the way around.

Shoulder pauldrons with spikes were added, for no particular reason, with a horn-like crest at the front of the hood, meant to represent the crown since I didn't like to wear the current one. My face mask stayed but I now have a very thin blindfold to hide my eyes. I can still see through it easily, but others can't see my eyes. A cape was also added, the cliche red on the outside, blue on the other. I did request however that the blue side has stars put on it. I like stars, absolutely beautiful, and I get to admire them here with so little pollution. A blue scarf was also part of it, though that's just because I sometimes get cold easily.

I return to the carriage to see that Pearl had already arrived. It was her idea, after all, to make myself a new cloak, since her fathers would most likely not suit me. She smirked when she saw her handiwork, her top-notch sewing skill on display with my cloak.

"Looks like subtlety has gone straight out the window, huh Sil?" she says with a playful smile.

"Well if the Princess is following, might as well try to beat her in style, at the very least," I retort, returning her smile. Neo just shakes his head at our antics, fond smile on his face. Though not chaotic, some banter was definitely going to take place between the two of us.

Then, the whistle of the steam engine finally blew, and we were on our way.

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The carriage moved faster than everything around us, even those pulled by strong beasts. The scenery whooshing passed with such a high speed. Though the people we passed had such surprised faces, it was kinda funny.

Neo and Pearl were sitting on the opposite sides of the carriage, silent, each contemplating what to say. Suddenly, Neo said with a sudden burst; "Are you okay with us taking over the kingdom, especially so suddenly?". Since I was driving, I couldn't see her expression, but I knew she was taken back by this statement.

A few long moment past, then, her voice travels through the air, through the grate, a bit tired but mostly confident; " Sil has told me the basics of your past, and I can say with certainty that you three will do well, if anything, the short amount of time you've been here has already brought many changes - '' she pauses, possibly to gesture around her " -like this piece of machinery right here. You deserve praise, and I thank you for doing your best, even if it was basically forced onto you. You're all capable of amazing things, Shade, for all his mischievousness, is caring towards the things he truly cares about, like you two. Neo, you're strong physically and mentally, the Knights need you to lead. Only then can they win battles and wars. Sil, A, I look at you as my little brother, and you always bring smiles to the people around you. Father was right to make you the next King, your strategies and advice have brought many improvements to each thing asked of you," she goes silent after that.

For all our bravado and brave faces, the two of us blush at her words. You see, as much as we are doing well in this world, our self-confidence has never been high. Her praise feels undeserved, even if it is. Neo mumbles a thank you, for both of us, the silence returning once more. Since she sits behind me, I say silently to her; "You don't know how stressful this has been for us. Its been piling up for a while now, and you just lifted that load off of our chests. I consider you my big sister as well. Thank you,". I could feel her smiling, sight or no sight. The atmosphere was calm once more.

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The Northeast Market was filled with the glitters of jewellery and expensive clothing. Truly, it was a nobleman's market. Though they may act high and mighty, those that I've seen from the sidelines ( the king has been the one to call them forth and have them as an audience, me acting as an advisor) were nothing more than greedy, crabby capitalist who wished nothing more than getting more money, no matter the cost.

Granted, not all of them were like that. But the majority still were. Those that weren't, however, I immediately befriended them, since they were genuinely nice people. The world needs more people like them. Especially with our new endeavours, they will most likely be the ones to help push for justice and equality. That was just secondary reasoning, however.

I step out of the driver's cabin, to which the people around us gasped at the sight of the carriage and I. A horseless carriage driven by a mysterious, heavily cloaked person, with the sounds of chains rattling around him? Definitely, a cause for concern and surprise. The rattling chain sounds, however, were made with wind magic. Shade managed to learn how to record sounds using said magic, immediately teaching us. I'm just using it for dramatic effect. Its true worth, however? Using it to record confessions. Definitely, worth the time it took mastering it.

Neo opened the door for the Princess and himself, being careful since the carriage was quite high above the ground. There were little steps, but caution is good to have.

The chatter silenced when Pearl stepped down. Questions immediately arose among the growing crowd. I understood why, but they could have at least be subtle about it. What really took me for a spin was when Pearl turned around to face me. She bowed low, making a 90-degree angle, which Neo only smiled, just barely holding back a guffaw. She knew I was glaring at her, so when she rose, all she did was give a smirk. For all that she resented Shade, she could sometimes act as mischievous as him. I hope her little sister doesn't become like that.

We walked into the market, Neo following with a grin. Makes sense, since a Knight would seldom walk next to a royal if they were not part of an entourage. I kept my arms within my sleeves, looking like a monk. Even with my fairly menacing ensemble, such a thing didn't deter some teens ( all were noble snobs ) to hit on her. Some were slightly younger than her, a few older. Yet each time they came close, all I had to do was take a small step forward, since I get easily annoyed with people wasting others time, for no good reasoning of course.

When I spoke, no voice came out. Using both light and wind magic, I made it so that my blindfold would project the words I was saying, and use emoticons to show emotions. I never threatened any of them, though an angry emoticon on my blindfold did scare basically all of them away. Pearl just gave me a smile each time. What? I did admit she was practically my big sister. Might as well play the protective little brother then.

Neo bought some stuff, like high-quality woods and carving tools. Apparently, its a somewhat niche, but still a trope, thing in reincarnation manga and anime for the protagonist to make a shogi board. In layman's terms, its kinda like Japanese chess. So Neo has been doing that since he's been bored, but just chess. He gave the game to several scholars and war strategists because while there is the threat of other nations, there are no imminent ones or active wars being fought. So hooray for peace.

Needless to say, the higher rankings of the Knights have gained a newfound respect for the scholars. Some even being considered being advisor-strategist during future crises.

Pearl didn't buy anything, since she's a Royal and whatnot, though she did look at a doll a bit longer than anything else. Probably for her sister.

That reminded me about the Royal Family Tree. The Family of the Lucients, named after its first King, Lucient ( last name unknown ). It had many branches, the closest were all nobles of course. The noble ranks were divided accordingly. The social status in the kingdom from the bottom are slaves ( which we wish to abolish such a status soon ), peasants, then the nobles, Baronett, Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquis, Duke, then finally, Royal Family of the King. Scholars, Generals, Artisans and the sorts would usually be within these ranks.

A large quantity of the closest members of the royal family were actually some of our biggest supporters when it comes to this reform. Not just on the surface, but were actually some of the kindest people to their little states and such.

It was apparently nobles who weren't part of the Royal Family or just too far of the tree to be considered part of it who were cruel. Sadly, most of the nobles weren't part of the Royal Family anymore, since the Family hasn't had any new branches for a few generations.

King Atlas himself is actually a family man, treating his subjects as if part of the family as well. Queen Celia wasn't much different. Though she was much more... public than the King. She liked to walk in the streets of the kingdom, more than any noble usually would. Don't get me wrong, I want to be like that as well when I finally have to take over, but even I know that's a bit of a safety risk during such a hostile political climate, quite literally.

Pearl is kind and considerate but is also the kind of person who would roundhouse kick a person without hesitation. The reason she was so hostile towards us was that we seemed too good to be true when we first arrived. Like we had no problems or were too carefree in our decisions ( Hint Hint Nudge Nudge Shade ). I guess our little talk and confessions settled that doubt very quickly.

She has a little sister who I have not met, but Shade has. I don't know her name, but Shade has said nice things about the kid. After all, Shade cares about three things the most, Innocents, Children and Creatures. So, of course, he got along with the kid.

Back to the thing at hand, we had gotten the things we wanted/needed, so we were headed back to the carriage. I had locked the doors on the thing, and if someone did manage to get in, I doubt they'd knew how to run it. The silence we were in was short lived though when a shrill voice cut through the market.

"OHHHH PRINNCEESSSSSS!!!" said voice practically shrieked. Pearls face immediately adopted an annoyed look, one that indicated she hated this person more than Shade. That is an achievement - or disgrace depending on how you view things - all on its own.

Pearl forced herself to smile and turned towards the newcomer. A teen, an elf that seemed to be the same age as she came running up to us. He was gaudily clothed, with a group guards trailing behind him. I can't allow myself to judge a book by its cover, but he looked to be the definition of a spoilt brat.

"Yes, Aeque Boudouh?" Pearl asked the person. The young elf gave a grin, confident, holding themselves higher than anyone else. Oh yeah, this kid was definitely spoilt, and the results were not good. "Hello, Princess-" he grabs Pearls hand and kisses it rather forcefully "-it's nice to see you out and about today. Oh, and whos this... person?" he turned to look at me.

Pearl looked close to punching him, which was impressive since most people would not have hesitated by this point. Shows the result of her diplomatic training, smile, even when they annoy you to death. "This is Phantasm-" for clarification, we agreed to call me something else while in disguise. Since my powers seemed somewhat ghostly, Phantasm became my name "- my surrogate little brother alongside Sil. That there is Neo, one of the new Royal Knights being trained directly under the General,".

The teen didn't look too happy with what she just said. "Little Brother? Guards, this person must be controlling the Princess, to make her think he's her little brother!" Aeque exclaimed, the guards rushing forward towards me. I hold my hand up to tell Neo not to do anything. Pearl just mutters " I f#$@*%# said surrogate. Good god,".

I summon a pike from the earth into my hand. Using it as a staff, I quickly defeat the guards with ease. I may have stopped going to Taekwon-do while I was very young, but fighting instincts and new training helped me easily.

"Watch out!" both Neo and Pearl scream at the same time. I turn around to catch the teen trying to stab me with a dagger. Shade would have done so much better. "Such a rash decision by a stuck up man-child, huh?" the words appeared on my blindfold, as I stare at Auque. He glares at me with contempt.

"Aeque, stop this instant? I said _surrogate_ , not biological. Could you be more of an idiot?" Pearl practically shrieks the words, him faltering in his confidence. I was about to tell her to stop, but she just glares at me, shaking her head. I wisely stop.

"There's a surprise that we will have regarding Phantasm, so if you dare attempt this again, I will hold you accountable for assaulting a Royal!" Aeque wisely lowers his weapon and runs in the opposite direction. his guards scrambling to follow. I nod towards Pearl, who returns it. Neo just looked annoyed with the whole display.

"People will be people. Especially the stupid ones" he says slowly. Neo looks towards me, asking if he should pursue him. I tell him no, it's not worth the effort We all agree silently, the crowd around us still in stunned shock and awe, as we depart for the carriage. I believe its time to investigate the Boudouh Family.

Our little excursion, however, spawned many rumours. Haaahhhhh whyyyyyyy.

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Aeque Boudouh is read as Aku Bodoh, which translates to I'm an idiot.

Sorry this took so long by the way.

From this point forward, I have no plans or idea on what should happen next, so we'll see what comes.

As said before, Neo's chapter will take longer since it's written by the both of us, so expect some back and forth in that one.


	4. Chapter 3: Le Cliché turns of events

ShadowKaktus: Time for Shade to show his face around. Sil might be the more calm and collected one but Shade will make sure Neo and Sil doesn't rest easy XD

Commence reading hoomans~

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Dawn slowly rise from its slumber, pure light strewed across the morning sky; it's hue ambitiously illuminating the back alleys of these slums. Nighttime, the most dangerous time for these people of the slums had finally ended. Only God knows how much they suffered during the wake of the dark.

A week had passed since my friends and I were summoned...or saved by them -whichever you prefer- and also around the same time, I left the castle. The king seemed to be willing to hear our thoughts, although the queen decided to do a little probing in our heads. Seems like our privacy was nothing for her. When one calls for help, one should trust the people you appointed rather than just poke inside their heads to see if they're trustworthy...haaaahhh...humans are just arseholes.

Flashback

"What do you mean I HAVE to stay here?!" I exclaimed.

"You have to understand Shade. It is the matter of convenience, it is easier to contact you and if anything happens, we could be around at a moment's notice" the queen said.

I took a deep breath and exhaled with a sigh. "To make things simple, you just want to keep an eye on me? Lady, I don't care what title you have but no one puts me on a leash, and I rather cherish my mental privacy thank you very much." I said with malice, the queen unfazed by the fact that I knew that it was her who probed our minds.

"You are quite the peculiar boy, Shade. For someone with no experience in magic to pinpoint the source so quickly is quite alarming. What would happen if-" she was interrupted as I was inches from her face.

"Here's the thing queen, if you want to ask for someone's help then you better have the heart to trust the other parties, because if you were going to talk about trust in my face then here's a thought; trust goes BOTH ways, your majesty...so next time, I advise you to at least ask rather than invading someone's privacy because, in my world, that's enough to get you arrested.." I said with full contempt.

With that cheerful ending, I left the castle so that I could get a better grasp to see what's needed to be done. And what better place to do that than the slums.

Flashback end

Not my finest moments, but what's done is done. Time to move forward into the abyss of not knowing. A casual stroll along the back alleys of slums, had many predators of every type lay their eyes on me. In the past week, since I've mingled with them, I have been assaulted, robbed, and almost mauled. Most, if not all of my attackers were either hungry or poor. They chased me like they wanted my brains (They wouldn't survive eating my brain anyway). I've also changed my clothing so that I could fit in easier in this world. I wore a short-sleeved, navy blue shirt with a homemade hoodie attached (yes I can sew, now let's move on), dark grey sweatpants (I'm not changing that), Black running/hiking boots. I also bandaged my arms, legs and half of my face with some leather armour dyed in white for a little protection.

As I walk through the back alleys of the slums, I heard a loud scream. And like every other generic people in mangas and stories, I decided to take a look. As I arrived at the scene, I saw three burly strong men, and a young boy in an expensive suit surrounding a beaten up girl (how cliché can this become?). With a slight sigh of annoyance, I went over to help the girl. Well, I'll just use them as practice dummies then. I thought.

"Congratulations filthy peasant. You have been selected to become my personal toy. Aren't you delighted to be able to serve me you lowlife~?" The boy said. A noble, of course he is. As if this turn of events isn't cliched enough. I thought silently.

The girl seemed to be unfazed, rather, she looked like she stopped caring a long time ago. "You should thank the young master when he's given you this high privilege you scum." One of the burly men said, a scar on his left eye.

"She must be too thrilled to speak." Another said, he had a weird looking tattoo on his right hand, and also everywhere.

After taking a closer look at the girl, I realized she was handless and her pupils were alabaster white, indicating she was most likely suffering from blindness. Her clothing was ripped and tattered, her body was full of wounds and scratches. Why would a noble want someone like her as a servant? She'll be useless in cleaning, washing, basically every single job. Then why...oh...I see...this is proof that humans are nothing but cruel and selfish shits. You guys do the thinking, I'm done.

Silently, I sneaked behind the young shithead and pulled out a karambit. "I'm afraid this girl is not available kid," I said, holding him and putting the karambit against his throat. The noble froze and gasped as the other three looked surprised, then went into a battle stance.

"Don't you know who I am peasant?" The boy glared.

"A scumbag? A shithead? A slob? Frankly, I don't care who or what you are." I said nonchalantly.

"Idiot he is the-" Scarface started.

"blah, blah, blah." I interrupted.

"His status is-" tattoo man started.

"I. Don't. Care." I halted him. "Here's the deal. You guys walk away and no one gets hurt, capiche?" I smiled.

"Kill him!" The boy exclaimed. With a strong side swipe to the neck, the boy fell to the ground unconscious. I sigh loudly. "You know, walking away is still an option."

Unfortunately, the three stooges started attacking me. "Why does no one go for the easy way?" I sighed again.

Let's test out my power, shall we? I thought to myself. With a flick of a finger, I silently summoned a strong gust of wind, throwing the middleman into the wall behind him, breaking the wall. A bit too much power. I tried pushing myself using the wind but instead, put too little force and went 15 cm in front. I had to eat a knuckle sandwich for that failure.

Yep, that hurt alright. I thought as I slowly stood back up. "Muahahahaha..! You think you have a chance against them you filthy commoner?! They're the best mercenary of this king-" He stopped talking and fell to the ground as I punched him in the guts.

"Shut the fuck up you spoiled snob. I just needed to adjust my power," I went to face the other two, surprised looks on their faces as the third on just stood up from the broken wall.

"Ready for round two~?" I grinned menacingly. Tattoo man charged at me like an angry bull, but like an angry bull, he ran into a wall as I easily dodged the straight charge. Scarface took out a club and swung at me. I pushed him off balanced using my wind powers and he ended up falling face first into the ground. The third guy was sneakier and tried for a surprise attack. Unfortunately, I was expecting him and instead, he got hit by a roundhouse kick.

" 'best mercenaries' riiiiight," I rolled my eyes. I used the wind to create a strong pressure against their back making them unable to stand back up.

"Now here's the deal you three. You walk away and carry this sorry excuse of a noble with you and I stop humiliating you," I said with a gentle smile. "OR, I keep this pressure on you and slowly increasing it by the hour until your body fails to withstand it and you get crush by sheer force of wind~"

Fear struck into their eyes as they knew that I was very willing to do that. They nodded in agreement to walking away and I let them go. As they were going away with the noble, however, I pushed them with another gush of wind, launching them out into the sky. With a hand on my forehead, I said. "They'll most likely survive. Bad people always do."

I turned to see to the girl and found that she had fainted. Her wounds are minor but she's obviously suffering from fatigue and hunger. In the spur of the moment, I decided to bring her to the castle for a quick recovery.

As I dashed through the kingdom towards the castle I silently wondered how to explain this situation to everyone.

Eh, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it

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I politely entered the meeting room of the castle. And when I say politely I meant I smashed through the skylight because I'm too lazy to deal with the guards. Conveniently though, Sil and Pearl were there.

"Oh hey guys, mind if I drop by? I have a sick patient here," I said with a slightly embarrassed grin. They were stunned -well, Pearl was, Sil was not surprised and just shook his head with a long sigh.

"What did you do this time Shade?" He said, an eyebrow raised.

"In my defence, they started it. Plus you expect me to leave a girl defenceless now do you?"

"And why did you bring the girl with you here?" Pearl asked, a bit of hostility still in her voice. Maybe she's still mad about that thing I did when we first arrived.

"She's severely injured (a total lie) and she needs a bath and a wonderful meal (that's true)," I told them what happened and how cliché that event was. Pearl didn't how what's cliché about the event but Sil understood what I meant. Anime and manga have this event occur countless of times it slowly becomes annoying.

With a loud sigh, Pearl told me to send her to the royal bath and the maids will take it from there. While they do that I sat myself on the table -yes, on- and smiled stupidly. "So, whatcha talkin' about~?"

"I was just telling Princess Pearl about our world's problems and how we planned to avoid them," Sil said with a slight sigh, knowing that half of their plan was not working.

The Earth is slowly dying due to human's incompetence and laziness to protect it. I hope we can make sure this world doesn't experience the same fate ours are.

"So what, you guys planning to stop global warming or something? I mean in this era we kinda HAVE to burn stuff till we find a better alternative," I said, my head tilted.

"And that is why Sil is chosen as alternative king and not you Shade," Pearl rolled her eyes at me. I flicked my tongue at her for that.

"Fire elementalists SHOULD have lightning as their sub element. So we could try to bring in electricity that way into this world. However, we have no resources for that yet so I'm thinking we could make wind or steam powered engines to power my planned vehicles." Sil explains briefly.

How can we have the things to build steam powered engine but not lightning powers?Eh, as long as I get my fun it's fine I guess.

"Okay, while you guys talk science and whatnot. I'm going to go check on the girl and also Neo." I said, leaving the room.

"Alrighty Shade, try not to destroy anything please." Sil asked.

"No promises...!" My voice echoed in the hallways.

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I skated through the hallways -yes skated, I figured out that I can still use other elements, their just not as powerful as my wind. So I froze the bottom of my shoe and gave it a smooth and slightly slippery surface.- As I was saying, I was slating through the hallways, trying to find the girl from before.

"Now if I was a royal architect, where would I put the infirmary...?" I said to myself as I wonder around the halls, skating through. After a while I stopped perfectly right in front of the infirmary. -Well, more to I hit the door face first because I forgot to put countermeasures on my shoe skates for the brakes. Oof I say.

"Oh, master Shade, What are you doing here?" a maid/nurse/servant asked.

"Number one, don't call me master it feels too weird, just call me Shade. Number two, how's the girl doing?" I explained.

"I-I can't do that, I'm just a serva-"

"Frankly I never care about statuses and stuff so...Yes you kinda have to. Anyway, she here?"

"She's having lunch at the dining area."

"Oh, thank you little one~" I patted her head before going of again on my 'skating' shoes, this time, actually making the skating blades.

I breezed into the dining area and saw the girl eating with the help of a maid. Before I came there I went and grab one of their element orbs of some sort. I need an ally in my team and my gut tells me she's perfect because she's going to be the last person they suspect to be dangerous. Plus, it'll be fun to see their faces when she beat the hell out of them.

"Hello little one, how are you faring?" I asked politely.

She flinched at the sound of my voice but quickly relaxed. "I-I'm doi-ing fine..Why did you help me?" she asked quietly.

"Now how would you know that I'm the one who did that?" I grinned. "I'm pretty sure you do not have sight."

"Y-your pattern of speaking is si-similar to the one that saved m-me. You two gave of a certain aura of w-warmth and some sort of disorder." She fiddled with herself. "And finally, you're the only one that asked about my condition."

Basically, the last one was a dead giveaway.

Some sort of disorder? Haha, why am I not surprised.

"Why I saved you? Because I like you~"

"L-like..?"

"Let me finish, I mean by you're the perfect person for my plan." I grinned.

"What plan..." She asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It's doesn't involve anything bad don't worry. My plan is to embarrass and humiliate the snobs and arseholes of the kingdom~"

"Aren't you a noble as well?"

"Me? Pfft..nah! I don't like being in such an annoying status and dealing with their stupid logic. I rather watch them burn as I slurp an ice cold smoothie."

"W-what's a smoothie?"

"Nevermind."

She fiddled nervously in her seat, wondering in what way would she be useful in my plan. Before she could say anything I propped my self beside her.

"Touch this orb little one. I want to see if my guts is right on you."

"And if it's wrong?"

"If it's wrong I'll still need you in my plan."

Reluctantly, she touched the orb -I helped her find it- and the orb glowed a fiercely bright red colour. My eyes sparkled and I grinned mischievously. The plan will work perfectly. She just need some training. I'll make sure to make full use of the phrase 'looks can be deceiving'.

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ShadowKaktus: Aaaaaaannnd that's a wrap. What's he planning? We'll see in the next phase. Adios amigos.


	5. Chapter 4: Getting into knighthood (Neo)

The plan was for a road trip with my two friends. However, we went into an accident but not really. Instead, we were summoned into another world filled with things that shouldn't exist. And all I wanted was to go watch the new Spiderman movie.

I'm not so sure what to think of it myself. Everything seemed to happen so fast. But now I'm apparently a candidate for the royal knights. Shade is off to who knows where while Sil is most likely planning something with that head of his.

Right after the meeting with the Queen, I followed General Krane to the training grounds nearby. Even though the Queen recommended me into the royal army. I still need to earn my way through it. She said that I'm one with great strength but honestly I'm more of a runner or an exercise freak than a fighter.

We walked through the main training soldiers' grounds and what Shade would call 'The Sweating Grounds'. Mostly because all the soldiers and trainees were sweating their butts off, I swear their actual puddles under them. Gross.

"Alright you, the Queen has personally recommended you to the Royal Army, so I need to see how **strong** you are. For now, I'll put you through basic training. Then, you will run the assault course. Complete it in two minutes, and I'll see to it myself that you are trained to our best standards," General Krane barked at me. His little briefing didn't go unnoticed by our spectators, who looked intrigued by the whole spectacle.

Haaahhhhh, I know I've got muscle and all, but couldn't you have given me a full rundown besides it. Seriously, I've got a good amount of knowledge and intelligence. The least you could have done is also give me a written test to test it. Doesn't this guy know how to fully test someone's capabilities?

Plus, give a guy a break. I haven't even been given the time to fully comprehend our situation here. Sil and Shade have already done so, but not everyone can do so that quick. Fine though, if your gonna be a hardass, I'll show you my true capabilities. Hope you have a rude awakening.

My opponent was a tall and honestly very hairy man. Though he didn't wear any sort of armour I have a feeling that I'm going to have a bit of trouble with this guy. Scars on his body prove his years of experience and his steely, determined scarlet red eyes gives off the glare of a highly trained veteran. Seems like Mr Krane is still unhappy with the fact that we three are going to basically run the place and pushing that feeling to me in this so-called training.

"As I said earlier, we need to test your strength. Since you were recommended by the Queen herself, you must be pretty strong to get her acknowledgement. So to test your true strength, our friend Clause here is perfect for a test of strength and power." He said, loud enough for everyone in the area to hear.

 _So he plans to prove that the King and Queen's decisions are wrong. I'm sure you're only thinking of your kingdom, General, but isn't this just redundant?_ I thought. _As much as I want to agree with him that we are not fit to lead and miraculously change the fate of the entire kingdom, I do not tolerate public humiliation._

"Ready when you are kid." Clause said, standing in a stance with his deathly glare that should make weak minded soldiers and enemies tremble and flee. To be honest, I was trembling but I have to save face. A warrior must not show weakness in front of his opponents.

I've not trained much in hand-to-hand combat other than the basics. Well screaming 'BACK OFF' isn't the option on this one. A human's weak points are his eyes, forehead, private areas, neck, knees and just above the ankles. However, with Clause's strength I know I can't win with strength alone. I must fight how the other two fight, with sleights of hand and good usage of our surroundings.

If it was Shade, he would use tricks and illusions as well as annoyance and fear to fight his way out. While Sil would most likely make full use of his advantages and weaknesses as well as his opponent's. I'll use both of these as a base for this fight. I noeed to change my ways of fighting with brute strength and evolve it into a better fighting technique. Either way it doesn't stop the fact that my opponent is two times larger than me.

I stood into the usual stance we see on tv and stuff and hopefully didn't embarrass myself. No one said a word, either because they know I'm dead anyways or I'm doing fine. I'll stick to the latter.

Clause immediately charged at me like a rampaging rhino, making it seem impossible to stop with his bulky form and steel determination. He'd easily knock down several enemies, maybe a few dozen with a single charge if he was in full armor. Clause has full advantage in hand-to-hand combat, and a lot of experience in the front lines. Fighting him dead on would've been suicidal. However, simple physics and a little bit of earth magic should do the trick.

The man has a large physique, and thusly has a large mass. Newton's second law states that force is equivalent to that of mass times acceleration, both of which Clause has. However, there is no law in physics that states that you can't change the direction of said object, so I use earth magic to reinforce my body, ready to throw him over the shoulder. He'll be the one to do all the work, I just need to play pivot point. And so I do.

THUMP

With a loud noise Clause flew across the field and crashed into a nearby tree. Everyone was stunned as it was an unexpected turns of events. There I was, standing up straight, unscathed, with a smug smile on my face. Haaaaah, I'm never saying learning physics is stupid anymore.

"But...how?" General Kaine said, stunned by what had transpired. He knew I was no match with Clause in an even fight, and wanted to use that fact as an advantage. But a good warrior always rely on his wits as well as his skills.

"You thought you could corner me and humiliate me in front of every soldier here General. Unfortunately for you, I won the match the moment Mr. Clause charged into me." I said, arms crossed. "Using Clauses momentum against him I was able to throw him with ease. A knight not only needs their strength to serve the kingdom. They also need intelligence to figure out the perfect strategy to defeat their opponents." _Also, serves you right for trying to turn me into a laughing stock you untrusting general._

"Hohoho...such a smart young lad. You use earth magic there didn't ya? Reinforced yerself to make an immovable object. Then use my own attack against me." Clause laughed heartily as he stood back up, brushing off the dust. "You'll be a great addition to the royal knights laddie. Just make sure yer in top shape and you'll do fine." He pat me in the back and went towards the washroom.

Unable to deny my strength, plus the glowing approval from Clause, General Kaine begrudgingly accepted me into the royal knights. But i got a feeling that he won't make it easy for me. Haaaaaaaaaah...How many lemonades am I supposed to make here life?

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A week later...

It has been a week since I was transported (unwillingly) into this world, and honestly, I can't call this world an improvement of my previous life. Yes, I did say that i want to use more of my time training but I also want more lazy time..

Sil has been busy with his projects while Shade disappeared somewhere, only coming by from time to time to play with the little princess. Rose was her name. Such a sweet young girl with short red hair. At first, Rose seemed a bit down mostly because her elder sister, Princess Pearl is usually busy and never spend time with her...well, that is but my observation. And of course Shade, being Shade had quickly replace Princess Pearl as Rose's elder sibling and she seemed to look forward to whatever plans he makes. I'm not really worried about that, Shade has a soft spot for children. Even if he's a bit...for the lack of a better word, chaotic of sort.

Though he better not be influence her in his ways.

The coronation is going to be interesting since he has his "I have a plan" face. We'll see what he has up his sleeve soon. Before that, I better get into shape.

I join a group of soldiers that was pretty nice to me, though they are also a but quirky but all my friends are really. I wonder how much we'll grow in our endeavour.

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That's all for Neo for now. He's a difficult character to write about but still fun. Who's next in our chapter? Well you better wait till the next one then :P.


	6. Chapter 5 : Food I'm hungry (Shade)

Now that I've checked on the girl -who's name I found out was Kana- and honestly i didn't expect her to be so shy and bashful after being so stout and silent against that slob-. Guess she didn't expect any form of help from the people in the slums, I know I wouldn't.

Now that I've checked up on her, I have to visit the little Rose of the castle. It's around evening so she'll most likely be in the courtyard, training at such a young age -being royalty is tough-. her father, the king wants her to be just like how Pearly turned out, judgy and boring -well responsible and sensible but that's how i see Pearly really-. I come by to visit every other day or so to make sure they don't push the little one too much, or they'll experience what's it like to have their skin flayed and burnt alive.

I walked towards the courtyard where Neo was currently training with the other royal knights. Apparently he was able to impress the kingdom's strongest veteran and was accepted by everyone in the royal knights, well other than the general, he still has some reserves. What with us being transported into another world and such, he does not know whether we have a criminal record or not. Well he would know if the invasive queen shared what she pried inside our heads. I went passed them since I'm not really interested in smelling like a pool of sweat.

Rose was at the end of the courtyard with her instructor, Ms Green -which is honestly weird cuz she has blond hair but whatever-. Today they were practicing on spells. Since Rose has a high affinity to nature, she's mostly pushed to learn about healing and such. Clearly this place has not seen the terrifying strength of Mother Nature, else she'd be training to be on the front lines. Rose was wearing greenish blue shorts -she usually wears a skirt but I told her otherwise-, a whitish green shirt, knee socks and her long red hair was tied into a ponytail by a black ribbon. She looked tired and out of breath, laying on the ground like she ran a full marathon -which is what it probably felt like-, most likely because healing prowess uses a lot of mana to begin with. Ms. Green was calmly reading under a tree.

"Hello little one, how's my favorite flower doing?" I asked with a soft smile as I approach them. Rose's eyes lit up when she saw me and immediately stood up to brush the dirt of her clothes.

"Little one? I'm only 8 years old, and I'm still growing." She pouted playfully. "I'm tiiiiiiiireeeeeed. Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to be royalty, but it's so boooooooriiiing. I never get to play. It's just train, train, and train." She complained, annoyed with her royal linage. Well, children prefer to play around rather than being stuck in their home, so I understand why she's mad.

"Must've been hard for you little Rose. Why don't we go to the kitchen and grab something to eat?"

"But the lesson's not over."

"Yes it is, it's past noon, lunch time." I said while dragging her into the castle. Ms. green didn't even bother trying to stop me since she knew it's useless to do so. the guards tried to stop me but they backed off when I 'persuaded' them. Rose was happily dragged into the castle, not really showing any resistance. She skipped through the hallways, not at all looking like someone who just trained for 5-6 hours. Children has fast recharge time when they don't have to do something they don't like.

"Where do you think you two are going?" Someone asked. We turned to see Pearly standing behind us, arms crossed. "Don't you have training to do Rose? Didn't father tell you to not leave the courtyard until the evening?" She said while glaring at me. I rolled my eyes at her while Rose hid behind me. Once upon a time these two always spend time with each other, now with Pearly's position and all they rarely even speak to one another, it's kinda sad to see/hear really. Reminds me of how little time I spent with my siblings, somehow it hurts. So seeing this situation I felt like I should spend some time with Rose -and also slowly gain her confidence while she grows distant to Pearly, great influence here Shade-.

"Don't you think it's a bit much to make such a young child to train for almost 12 hours a day Pearly?" I asked, used to her unsatisfied glare. Pearly in general doesn't care what I do, more like she just doesn't like me in general. Especially since Rose started to hang around with me.

"Why don't you stop meddling in someone else's business. Rose needs this training." She said.

"Well frankly I don't think it's morally right to make children her age to be trained to the bone. She'll pass out from exhaustion or be her body might not handle it." I countered.

"That's why this training is supposed to make sure she can handle anything that comes after her." She continued, getting pissed now.

"Alright, that's enough you two," said someone from behind us. All three of us turn towards the source, seeing that it was Sil coming towards us." Hello. Who must you be?" Sil said as he crouched by Rose, having never met her prior to today. The little softly mumbles her name, Sil giving a soft smile. He stands up however, and gives the both of us sharp glare." Need I ask why the two of you are arguing in such a fashion? To the point that you're scaring Rose?"Pearl winces at that.

After Sil's small lecture, Pearl tried to justify the reasoning of the argument. While I was suggesting a compromise of increased playtime where she is allowed to use her powers for fun. Since playing with your powers actually give you better insight and better ideas rather than just following theories,formulas and instructions. With the power of reasoning and the puppy eyes of an 8 year old girl, we managed to convince Pearly to decrease her training time to 4-6 hours a day rather than 10-12 hours a day.

With a long defeated sigh, Pearly agreed to our proposal. "Fine you win, but I'm still against you hanging around Rose. For all I know you're corrupting her." She glared. That is a line she shouldn't cross, I would never hurt children in any way. If only I could just give her a sucker punch or nightmares or something.

Slightly ticked off by that comment, I decided to just leave the area before I do something I might regret. "Come on Rose, food is waiting." I said as I walked away.

"I heard you brought a girl here, who was it?" Rose asked innocently while skipping beside me. Well I said innocently but I thought I felt a dark aura beside me, but I let it go over my head really because why would bringing an injured girl into the castle for treatment a bad thing?

"Her name's Kana and she's from the slums, or at least I think she does. Her mana is waaaaayy higher than the ones I see there." I told her. I explain the train of events of what happened this morning and why I had to bring her here -tho it's mostly because I don't have any healing ability-. And so, I brought Rose to meet Kana and we saw through the window -why does the hallways have a window into the dining room I can't tell you-.

Kana turned towards our general direction when she obviously heard us practically flew the door open. "SHADE HAS ARRIVED AND I HAVE BROUGHT LE ROSE." I yelled from the doorway. Kana only giggled while the servants sighed indignantly at my actions. Kana was being fed by one of the maids as we walked towards them. She was eating a fancy ass meal that I'm not going to even try to guess. Honestly I'd like a cheeseburger and some fries here. 

"Whatcha got there?" I asked Kana, Rose sat on the chair beside her. With a thinking pose, Kana thought for a while before answering what the heck's she's eating. "No idea, it's meat with seasoning and some vegetables." She told me. At that point I JUST remembered that she's blind and can't really see what's what, way to go Shade...

"Well that's basically what it looks like honestly so you're not wrong. But I ain't eating that. I'm going to cook my own food." I said as I walk towards the kitchen. A servant tried to stop me by saying that only authorized personnel can enter the kitchen. "I know, but when has that stopped me?" I said, brushing him off of me and went into the kitchen. True, the chefs in there complained about my presence and all but what do I care. All I want is my god damn cheeseburger and fries. It has been too long since I had them. Shade needs his fast food. The head chef, Chef McClaine, started scolding about some bullshit.

"Why are you in the kitchen kid? We don't need someone with no experience in cooking to be roaming around in our kitchen. You probably don't even know what ingredient to use." He said with a smug. So even the royal chef's an asshole huh. Go figure. But form what he just said I can safely assume that no one else here other than us three and the chefs know how to cook. You're not earning any bridal points here Pearly. I have to teach Rose how to cook or else she'll fall into the same hole as Pearly. I can't let that little flower bloom into a monstrous plant like her sister.

While I was lost in my thoughts McClaine hit me in the head with a baguette. "Oi, you deaf or somethin'?" He said, clearly getting annoyed about being ignored. Though one thought DID come across in my head and my eyes widen. 'THEY HAVE BAGUETTES?!' I thought to myself. But the baguette felt different, harder to be precise, baguettes aren't supposed to be that stiff. I took the baguette off of him and took a large bite on it. "What the- HEY, we were going to use those!" he yelled at me.

I was too busy tasting the baguette and it was too hard to chew and not at all scrumptious like the ones I ate. Before he was about to hit me again -with his hand this time-, I slapped him in the face using the baguette. "THIS is what you called a goo d baguette? THIS is the highest level of cooking you have here? Watch and learn boys and girls. Shadey is going to cook some quality baguette."

First I placed a cup water, some bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast into a large bowl since we don't have a bread mixer and mixed the ingredients using wind magic because it's convenient and I'm just too lazy to do it manually. When the dough is done I put the dough into a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. "What are you doing?!" McClaine asked. Oh yeah I forgot everyone else existed. "I'm showing you how to make PROPER baguettes." I glared at him. 

"Proper baguettes? This is the finest baguette you'd ever find in this kingdom." He laughed.

"If these are the finest bread you can make then you guys have terrible taste really." I countered smugly. "Now shut up and let me do my work. Or are you afraid mine would taste better that your 'finest' baguettes hmmmmm~?" Caught of guard, McClaine shuts up and stood idly at the back, arms crossed and looking very pissed. I should get a PhD on making people pissed at me really. I would score that in flying colors in no time flat.

Cover the bread and let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. While that happens I went to personally slay a cow -because fresh patty is best patty-, skinned it and cut out the shoulder and sirloin for the patty of my future cheeseburger. The chefs DID tried to stop me from doing so but I told them to shove their thoughts up their arse. I am very nice that way really. McClaine was far from pleased and by the time I was done cutting he was no longer in the kitchen. Probably complaining to the king about my intrusion of the kitchen or something close to that. Eh, I was gonna see him later so McClaine is making my job easier if he is going to complain. 

After 30 minutes I make sure the dough is ready by testing if indentations remain when it's touched and to relieve some stress -and it's also something I have to do- I punched down the dough. I divided the dough into three separate bowls, two for the baguette while the other for my lunch. On a lightly floured surface, I used one of the baguette dough and rolled it into a long rectangular shape. Unfortunately we don't have a ruler or measuring tape to make precise measurements -I asked just in case but I knew they didn't have any-. It is then cut in half and rolled each half tightly, starting from the longer side of the dough, pounding out any air bubbles as I go. Next, I gently roll it back and forth. The dough is then placed a few inches apart on a greased tray -I couldn't find a substitute for baking paper-. To make sure the end product looks like a baguette -and also baked properly-, I made deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 or so inches. By this point, Kana and Rose went inside the kitchen to check on what the heck am I doing. Sheesh no one trust me to not do anything stupid huh. Smart.

"Whatcha doooooin?" Rose asked as she sat on the counter. I paused for a second to remember where that phrase came from......nope, doesn't ring any bells. 

"I'm trying to show these smugs-a-lot how PROPER bread and baguette are made and taste like." I said while covering the loaves in a warm place until it doubled in bulk.

Again, since technological advancement has not occurred here yet, we don't have an oven. The second best choice to bake the baguettes is to use a stone oven. I tried to be precise with how strong the fire should be but I can't really go far using a stone rod, but the temperature should be fine.The ideal temperature is around 120°C - 200°C. I mixed some egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and brush it on top of the loaves. The loaves are baked in the stone oven until it became golden brown. 

While waiting for the bread to bake. I started making my patty for my CHEESEBURGER. I took sirloin and shoulder I cut out earlier, told Rose to grab an egg, a loaf of their too hard bread, some milk, garlic, and pepper. I don't have any other ingredients to make a perfect burger patty but I can get close to it at least.

I made a makeshift grill -An open fire with a metal grate on top- since an actual grill doesn't exist yet and was preheated for high heat. The garlic and pepper are then minced, the bread are turned into bread crumbs. For once I'm thankful that they have hard bread. The milk was used to make evaporated milk, which should've taken a week to make but the convenience of MAGIC, I used ice powers to cool it down. These are then mixed in a large bowl and the mixture is separated and formed into a dozen burger patties. Because one ain't enough, plus someone else would probably ask for some. The metal grate is lightly oiled and the patties are then grilled 5 minutes on each side. 

The smell of the food spread across the hallways and it pulled a rather large crowd outside the kitchen. I heard a few gasps and stuff, maybe because they didn't expect to see me cooking. I DID feel a cold presence -maybe the king or queen- but it dissipated as quickly as it came. I also made burger buns while I was at it and it basically uses the same step but slightly altered to make sure the buns are soft rather than scrumptious.

Thirty minutes has passed and everything has been cooked and made. And my stomach was growling so loud it could cause an avalanche. My only complaint was that barbecue sauce was not invented yet. I forgot to make my fries but eeeeeh. Too hungry to care about that. Thankfully cheese already existed, well not cheddar or mozzarella but cheese nonetheless. With a large bite, I immediately ate half of one of the cheeseburgers and I was filled with joy I could cry.

"Yesssssssssssssssss. This is what I needed." I said to myself as I enjoy my meal. Though I couldn't enjoy it fully with a hundred or so people staring at me. Speaking of which, I felt like I was doing a cooking show back then. Slowly I turned around to take a look at the audience. Sure enough, the king and the others were there.

"Uuuuuhhh sup'?" I said with a sheepish smile. "Need anything? Anything at all? Other than my lunch though." 

"Ahem, Mr. McClaine here complained that you were making a mess in the kitchen and creating havoc." The King said. McClaine with a smug look on his face. "What ARE you doing here Shade?" the King asked.

"Well for one, I can tell that most people here doesn't like me in general so for all I know they'd put poison in my meals if I asked for one. so instead I cooked my own meal and also showed these numskulls how GOOD bread tastes like." I briefly explain to everyone. The King and the others understood what I meant. However, McClaine was far from pleased. 

"This is an outrage! How would such a child be good in cooking while I've spent years mastering my cooking through my family's legacy. We are known to be the best of the best in this kingdom." He rambled something close to that, never really sure. I was busy eating my cheeseburger and giving Kana and Rose some too. Rose jumps for joy as she eats hers and Kana felt an explosion of flavors from the cheeseburger. McClaine was stunned to see how happy those two were with my cooking. Attacking someone's pride is always fun.

"Well you can continue cooking your 'best of the best' cooking in the castle. I'm going to go to the local bakery and teach them. I'll bet I'll be able to get a lot of income through that." I said with a smug. "Please do taste the rest of my bread and the burger. Then you can speak how 'good' your cooking is ay?" I said as I leave with my food with Kana and Rose tailing me. I was stopped by the king before I left the kitchen.

"Shade, before you leave, could you give me some? The smell of your dish is so delicious it's making my mouth water." He asked politely. I gave it a few seconds to think about it and might as well give him some. He technically hasn't wronged me -other than the fact that he teleported us here without our consent but eeeh-. 

"My King! This is clearly a trap! He might've put some deadly chemicals in there." McClaine protested.

"Why would I spoil such a delicious cheeseburger? That's just a waste of a good meal." I said, eyebrow arched.

"AHA! The smell must've been one of your magic tricks!" He accused.

"I'm pretty sure illusion at best can effect touch not smell. Try to find something to support your absurd theory at least." I countered skeptically.

"Silence McClaine. I trust Shade, even if he's quite erratic. He is a good man at heart, and he certainly won't poison his own meal." The King said. Defeated, McClaine hung his head, though hiding a strong sense of anger of getting rekt by me. "Plus my daughter trusts him like a brother. That is good enough for me." King Atlas then grabbed a bite out of the cheeseburger and his eyes widened by the taste of it. Before he could say anything else I was already out of the dining area.

* * *

ShadowKaktus: Hewwo hoomans, sorry 'bout the late update. Things got kinda busy around here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see y'all later. Shade out *^*.


	7. The View Of The City

The people of the walled city whisper throughout the night. The children of Aequalis never silent, even during the harsh winters of the continent. Everyone knew what was going on, inequality and injustice holding a leash on all who lived. At least, to the poor that is. Try as the king might, cruelty still ran deep within the streets of the stone city.

The kingdom has had its highs and lows, ever since its founding by King Lucient. Though all agree that these recent years could be considered the dark ages of the kingdom.

There had been talk, word that the King and his advisors would perform a spell, one that had been lost to the sands of time. But no one truly believed in rumours. Why would you? The risk of falseness almost always shadowing the hope and truth it brings.

Somehow though? It finally seemed like the truth, the whispers are much weight the screams of the light. Why? Because there was a day, that had never happened before, did. The king didn't allow people to see him.

Some would say that the king had finally fallen, giving in to greed. But when one stood near the castle that day, there was commotion like no other day. A light shined from the windows, unworldly. No one knew, what that day would bring, but it certainly brought change.

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The day after the bright light shining from the castle, a few rumours started to emerge. Some of the servants gossiped that the elder princess had screamed earlier that morning. That some of the beasts within had finally been tamed ( some say it wasn't the work of the royal tamer, but if not them, then who?), and that a new Knight had defeated Clause, one of the kingdoms skilled warriors, the Red Suited Bear.

Then, came the incident at the Western Market, where a man/woman/unknown had been seen walking alongside the princess, purchasing an odd assortment of items. His face was covered by a mask, grin wide, with no eyes visible. Some said that you would turn to stone if you gazed at them for too long. Whether or not this rumour is true, is to be seen.

Not long after, the youngest of the notorious Boudouh family was said to have come home crying, his hired mercenaries beaten by an agile, dark and powerful person, the Dark One. The crime? Torturing someone in the slums. The family were able to avoid punishment for this one. Other corrupts families, however, didn't receive such niceties.

Day by day, more and more nobles were being punished for the crimes they had committed, unearthed, by an unknown individual. Each crime read was shocking, which caused many to call for execution. They were, however, more properly punished by the court.

The citizens rejoiced in the fact that justice was finally delivered. The people of the slums bursting with joy that they were finally acknowledged and protected. A few shrines had been set in place around the kingdom as thanks.

Following this incident, the king decreed laws that brought a massive change to a problem within the city, Children's Welfare. King Atlas ordered his guards to survey and investigate orphanages around the city. Revealed, were many places that were cruel to the young, some from the fact they were a different race, others for the pure fun of it. This did not sit well with anyone. Rumours sprouted about the fact that some of the orphanage heads were found severely injured, bones broken in twisted ways. The Dark One was rumoured to be the preprator for this as well. The people were once again thankful for this dark guardian. Though the question did arise. Who's agendas are they serving ; Good? or themselves? The light screamers tried to call for 'justice', but they're cries were not listened to this time.

These orphanages, once inspected, were put under the kings duty. Their budget coming straight from the kingdoms, which had significantly increased in a few days. The king, and ones following them ( they have no objection for a king to be female, after all, it is but a title ) would have to be aware of the states of the orphanages, since there werent so many in the first place, so that they could be properly maintained. They were also provided with bread that some said had come from nirvana itself. A bakery had received its recipe anonymously, and decided to test it. The results were immediate. It became popular among all citizens, rich or poor for its cheap price. Yet none could trace its origin, perhaps an angel had sent it? Who knows.

Alongside this, some sounds could be heard coming from the castle courtyard. Clanging and crashing of metal against each other, with a distinct sound of hammering. The whispers even said that you could see plumes of smoke, white in colour, rising to the blue sky from within.

Not long after that, the Grinning One appeared once more, this time in the Northeastern market, on a metal carriage with no horses no less. Rumours indicate that the construction of this carriage was the source of all the noise, but none could confirm its validity. Though if one were to look closely, they would see a bright blue flame, glowing, in the back part of the carriage. Its use unknown, except to its creator.

This time, they bought simpler things, once again accompanied by the princess, and a Knight no one had seen before. Some said it was the rumoured knight who had beaten Clause, not many believed it, however. And when the elder Boudouh appeared and attacked the grinning one, he was sorely defeated. Only then did people know their name. Phantasm. Yet, neither the screams, nor the whispers could find any truth behind this name. The enigma could only be connected to a boy, 16 or 17 in age, named Sil, whose name was said by Princess Pearl, as one of her new adopted siblings. Perplexing, is it not?

The city erupted into noise once more. the children of the dark whispered amongst themselves. Had they finally received some saviours? All this happened while the screamers of the light shouted at each other, trying to run from the sins they had committed. The children of the night rejoiced, a brief moment of respite in their painful lives so far. Good finally reaching out to them. Many tears were shed when justice was finally delivered, it had been long overdue.

None, however, could have predicted the rising of a new king. And for that King to be The Grinning One, Phantasm? Well, at least his advisor, the boy Sil seemed nice enough. They were willing to listen to all, which gave some hope. The mysterious Knight, named Neo, had once again emerged, this time defeating a legendary beast. The man of darkness, the Dark One; some say his name is Shade, however, had left, seeking something only his allies knew about alongside a blind girl.

Yet royal family seemed delighted with the situation in general, if you don't include Princess Pearl's disdain towards Shade, and her subsequent relief when he left, they all seemed to understand the importance of these three ( some say four if you count Sil, but he's a wildcard in all this chaos ). But everyone knew, they were headed for one heck of a future with them at the helm.

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Draozerox: Hey guys! Sorry, it took so long, and it's short, but this time, we have a short recap of everything thus far, except Shade cooking, and the people's reaction to it. This was a nice experiment, though I knew I needed to add more povs of the people. but this should suffice as a test. This was inspired by an air fic, Of Plastic Bats and Candles, it's pretty good.

As for why we don't update often, is because typing on a phone (even with an actual keyboard) is hard. Shade has the same problem though he also has work to do most days, I'm just forgetful and tend to procrastinate. Sorry about that, I'll try to pick up the pace with Sil's next chapter. Goodbye!


End file.
